A natural combination of classical and electronic music, creativity and mindful living, Gisele aka BODAI is the argentinian DJ, Producer, Vocalist, Songwriter and dual Label Owner, whose diverse musical compositions have been supported by globally renowned artists such as Hernan Cattaneo, Nick Warren, Aly & Fila, Guy J, Eelke Kleijn, Roger Shah, Gai Barone in their massive Shows, rising quickly to the Top 50 Beatport Deep House and Progressive House Charts.
Her Live Acts and DJ Set performances are known for spreading positivity and refreshing healing-energies through her melodic house sounds, which took place in several countries such as Australia , Chile , Netherlands (ADE), Brazil and Argentina, sharing stage with Silicone Soul, Brigado Crew, among others.
Also founder of the AMITABHA and Auditen Music labels, Host of ”NATURAL” on Frisky Radio, and Professional Coach who holds features on worldwide podcasts and magazines, this 2022 continues adding venues to her NATURAL TOUR in Buenos Aires, Patagonia, Rosario, Atlantic Coast, and Brazil, presenting her next releases on The Soundgarden, among others to be announced.
Hello Bodai, thanks for taking the time to speak with us.
We would like to start this conversation from the beginning of your career, for those who maybe aren’t familiar with your music. Can you tell us a little bit about how your musical journey started and when did you decided that you want to become a DJ and Producer?
Hi Suza team, thank you for having me.
It all started at my very first home in Jose Leon Suarez, Buenos Aires. Our house was on the second floor, my cousins were on the first one and my Italian grandfather was at the back. It was a simple and warm family-place, with this very special corner in the central room. I remember clearly sitting in front of that piano as a 4-year old kid, and spending hours just watching the sunlight coming in, making the wood color brighter, thinking about how it work. There was a piano, a guitar, and these big sound boxes covered in wood with a turntable and an amplifier.
My father was a classical piano player when he was young but I think I never got to see him actually playing. At that time he was more passionate about listening to new pop/rock vinyls and cassettes while Mama was always with the Radio on. So they introduced me to Queen, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Giorgio Moroder, Michael Jackson, Annie Lennox, The Police, The Beatles, Soda Stereo, Madonna, Technotronik, and the long list you can imagine. When I became 8 years old I began to play that piano taking music lessons with Betty, inspired by my sister’s godmother Laura, my aunt Grace, and grand aunt Fina who was such a brilliant funky piano player.
Many many years later I felt attracted to the instrument again and started to self-learn computer softwares cubase and ableton, composing ambient and electro-pop music as a hobby, then I started to play DJ Sets, and since then, I have never stopped. So it was never a plan or decision, I have just been following my instincts about my passion which took me all the way here today with you.
Who was the first big DJ to support your music and how important was that moment in terms of inspiration as well as being validated as an artist?
Masters Hernan Cattaneo and Guy J were the first supporting my music, starting in 2018. And as you say, this was and still is extremely important for me in terms of inspiration and validation, because it has always been very hard for me to talk about my own work as an artist and a label manager. My personality pushes me to just focus on my work and let DJs and Communities be my voice by sharing what they feel around my music. My growth comes from those believers who naturally decide to share and spread my work. Each of you have been incredibly important to my producer career, which is still very short for what I could have in mind. I can’t thank you enough for the words, the energy and the actions from so many of you. Thank you very much for finding me, it really means the world to me.
How is it like working in mostly male dominated industry, has that ever been a challenge for you?
I suppose the real challenge has always been the mentality (generally speaking) about female talent. We still have to pass many more tests than men in order to prove our genuine talent. But this is part of a social evolution and even women and men get confused about how to behave in the process. As I always say, I encourage everyone to take a bit of responsibility by taking conscious actions on a daily basis with our inner circle.
These simple actions have stronger results than anything and a healthy mentality spreads fast. As a committed female in the electronic music industry I still do have my upside downs in regard to this subject, but we need to understand these transformations take time and we are already doing better. If anyone needs to talk about this, ask the one you know that would listen with empathy and would give you an honest and serious word. My doors are always open to anyone who needs a true word about this mission.
What do you think, how hard is it nowadays for a female DJ to make it in the dance music world? And who are five up and coming female artists to watch out for?
About DJ-ing specifictly, nowadays women are probably receiving even more offers than men, but maybe not every option is an opportunity to show musical talent. As we just talked, it is about (generally speaking) the mind perception and things are being handled based on that consideration. Again, this is already changing positively and these things take time. In the meantime, it is all about choosing where we feel comfortable and respected and not rushing things that eventually will come overtime. I promise, when you finally get to that point after so many decisions made, the feeling is really powerful and peaceful at the same time.
About female artists to watch out for, there are so many that I would say to take a look at the DJ/producers from Rosario and Santa Fe, I am receiving a lot of cool music coming from that region these last months. Some of them will be released on AMITABHA and some others are on my current sets. The beautiful Suza community will love them.
How often do you get to play in your hometown and what do you like about the scene in Argentina, which is well known for it’s love of Progressive music?
At the very beginning as a DJ I had this peak couple of years of playing almost every weekend at different clubs and during the week at some bars in Buenos Aires. With the time and experience I started to play more exclusively on different places not just in Argentina, but also at the Amsterdam Dance Event with FRISKY, two times in different venues of Brazil, and when I presented my first collaboration with Dynacom we got to play at some beautiful locations in Australia and Chile as well, it was truly amazing.
During pandemic times I had to suspend my travel plans but I happily started to play more often at different venues of the beautiful Argentina, and to answer your question, the feeling of finally headlining some gigs at my hometown is something that cannot be described with words, we need to be there, the energy is truly unique and Argentinians don’t miss a thing. If you are doing really well, they make sure to let you know that while you are on stage. Those ”here and now” moments are what I love most from the Argentinian scene, and I am very excited about bringing my music and sets at more and more venues here.
You have your own ”Natural” Radio Show on Frisky Radio, and it’s always enjoyment when we listen to your mixes, with a great selection of tracks! How do you remain inspired when creating these journeys and what is important to you for each episode to include?
Thank you for that! My show and current tour ”Natural” describes my whole concept as an artist, so during these last 3 years I have been always making sure the show maintains the intention about following my heart with the track selection and the journey I want to create in each episode. For these particular shows, I listen to promos every week no matter how much I am traveling or being busy with other roles. Having this routine of selecting music is what keeps me inspired, because I love listening to music and I love the music I play, including my own tracks. As one of many self-demanding producers we get to appreciate our own tracks so much more when we play them on a mix. About the Journey, it is about being me all the time, the DJ and the Listener.
You’re founder of the AMITABHA and Auditen Music Labels. How did that story started and what motivated you to launch the label?
It all started back in 2016. At that time I met Dynacom, who was a visionary man fully convinced about making his wishes and ideas come true. He had his Auditen Music label and asked me to work on the re-launch. At that time there were just a few progressive labels running and social media was still a very new thing for local labels. So I accepted the challenge and started to create original content from my own point of view on social media and on the other hand I began to build a management structure for the label.
It took almost a year of work behind the scene until the label re-launch became real and it became massive thing really fast, great music, big supports, cool art-works, the scene started to love the concept and ask for the next release announcement, a lot of demos coming in, and many artists growing in parallel with the label, like the own Dynacom, Kamilo Sanclemente, Fernando Olaya, Andrea Cassino, Guhus, Niceshot, Partenaire, and so many more still to come this year. It became a reference to other artists and labels, so I got to a point where I felt my job was done there. All was good and running, no more big challenges for me to achieve, and Auditen wasn’t exactly my own dream or my specific sound. But then, Dynacom wanted me to create my own one, a sister label that could give opportunities to artists who started their musical journey with an instrument-vision like me. But it wasn’t the time for me.
A label’s work with high standards can be very exhausting plus you have to invest a lot from your own other jobs just to maintain it, so I took a pause from that idea and used that time to learn and work on my own productions. Finally on April 2018 AMITABHA was officially announced with the intention of bringing more human values to the existing local scene at that time, while bringing more freedom to the genre types, fusionating with other types of visual arts, and making a big focus on original music. Happily, a similar cycle happened with this second label and continues in the present. The artist family grows with the label, we are all part of it.
Today I can say that the tree I talked about, in my first interviews back in 2018, has bloomed enough to provide the seeds for other trees to grow now, which is already happening. As a label manager it’s been 5 years of so many lessons and emotions of all types. The efforts are so big sometimes it becomes pointless, but we haven’t quit because we truly felt we were meant to do this at some point of our lives. I guess we both wanted to collaborate with the growth of the electronic music scene in our country, so we took the lead of writing a few pages of it. We didn’t think it would go this far. Thank you to all Artists, DJs, Media partners, Listeners and teams involved for believing in us.
How are you satisfied with the work of your label and could you recommend some upcoming releases that we shouldn’t miss?
Both labels are having big stuff coming out this 2022. And we are happily having more team members and partnerships joining us, so lots to come.
Which advice can you give to young girls who are inspired by you and want to become DJs and artists as well?
If that is already happening it honors me and thank you for that. About my advices, I just had a cool chat with a young man and the same applies to anyone. I said: If you really wish to be like me, then don’t try to be like me and don’t try to be like anyone. Because the only way to truly enjoy this journey is by being yourself. And in order to be yourself, you have to explore and find yourself, and that my dear, that takes time.
So be patient, do not follow standards, do not compare yourself with others and please do not get desperate. Trust your instincts, validate those who inspire you and be a good person at all times, no matter what. And learn, practice, learn, practice, learn, practice.
We all have some dreams and desires. When we talk about music, can you tell us what are the remaining dreams you would like to accomplish?
True thing, we all have wishes. I consider myself more a ”doer” than just a ”dreamer’, and that mind set of doing, at one point, makes my wishes become true. It is a sort of attraction. As life happens, we all transform and so do our wishes too. In my case, after many transformations, today I can tell you I have chosen music and yoga methods to fulfill my life purpose of helping others find their own purpose, which you cannot find if your mind and/or spirit are in chaos. So I work on bringing the right frequencies at the right moments to help with that balance we need. I have this massive wish of helping as many human beings as I can to find their own life frequency, on whatever cycle they are.
Outside of all music things, how do you spend your free time, do you have any hobbies?
Usually free-time is a hard thing to find in my multi-roles, but I feel that I need it, then is when I stop the current agenda and spend some time with my family, especially with my nephews. Also I am always in communication with my intimate friends wherever in the world I am. I have been a traveler for many years in other jobs as well, so my inner circle is very used to that. When I am home I meet one and another almost every week. They have been true supporters of my lifestyle and transformations over the years, sharing time with them is a big thing for me.
So, we have come to the end of this conversation. Can you share with us your plans for the coming period?
I just came back from an incredible tour in Brazil, with so many new things to do there in the near future. Also many tracks and collaborations to finish in the studio, a new podcast and release announcements, also a possible return to ADE if the world allows it this year.
Thank you once again for this conversation. Stay safe!
Thank you for reading!
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